Rebuilding Worlds Vol. 2
Welcome one and all to volume 2 of the Rebuilding Worlds Challenge! This challenge has gone through a few different renditions and has been going on in one way or another since 2010! With V...
Forum Discussion
My first story update!! (As I mentioned previously, it's also on my blog, but since it's nearly the same post, I won't bother linking it here.)
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-38-43-pm.jpg
They load up on the pavement next to their new home, and Aiyden immediately devolves into a coughing fit. Iris seems a bit worried for her college friend.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-39-09-pm.jpg
She inquires as to his health, and he mentions the smog is choking him. He is second guessing their decision to spend so much on this house when the neighborhood appears to be in such bad shape. (They are 40k in debt from buying the bare necessities and building the house.)
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-40-08-pm.jpg
Iris immediately lights into Aiyden for doubting their mission to clean up Port Promise, and he initially looks bewildered by her attack.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-40-24-pm.jpg
Before long, however, his hot-headedness takes over, and he’s giving as good as he gets. As a simmer, I try to make them play “nice”, but they’re simply not cooperating. Every “friendly” interaction is causing further damage to an already tenuous friendship.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-44-06-pm.jpg
Finally, They’re thoroughly angry from both sides losing the argument, and I gave up and sent them to inspect their new home. Both stomp off to the front door like recalcitrant teenagers.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-44-40-pm.jpg
Iris checks out their kitchen – which is pretty much the only mostly furnished room in the house. Aiyden checks, and finds that the bathrooms, indeed, at least have plumbing, there’s a washer and dryer – and one double bed that looks like a rock to sleep on. He comes back to relay the bad news to Iris, and she doesn’t take it well.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-45-03-pm.jpg
“There’s only one bed? How on earth did this place cost so much, then? What did all our money go to? The walls and floors are so BORING! How could you have approved these designs?”
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-45-57-pm.jpg
“Whoa. You weren’t exactly helpful in picking out the designs, you were too busy with college to help out, so I picked the house that looked like it would be big enough for both of us. It’s not my fault the designer misunderstood and thought we were a couple!”
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-50-26-pm.jpg
“Whatever!” Iris has had enough of Aiyden, and turns her back on him to order some cheap (very cheap) bedroom furniture for herself, and contact the local job bureau for employment. She has the furniture installed in the room that’s the furthest from Aiydens (in the third floor), and lucks out with finding a company who will hire her on based solely on her degree, not her abysmal skills. Aiyden considers the fact that his Aspiration requires him to be a Freelance Maker, and makes the contacts to join that agency – but his “slacker” approach in his “career” only seems to aggravate Iris more.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-53-00-pm.jpg
With neither of them speaking to each other at the moment, they both decide to head to the local Community Space to check out the neighborhood. Aiyden is horrified by the mess on the lot, and immediately starts meeting people to try to gain influence so he can turn the lot into a Maker Space.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-53-18-pm.jpg
Iris sees the lot and immediately has other ideas. This neighborhood NEEDS revitalization. This junkyard of a community space can always be cleaned up later – after they have some better laws in place. She immediately start campaigning for the area to be more “Self-Sufficient”. There aren’t a whole lot of people around, yet, though – and who can blame them with all this mess around?! – so both Iris and Aiyden settle on the same thing to keep themselves busy.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-53-47-pm.jpg
Dumpster Diving. Before long, they’re both filthy and miserable, but they’ve been finding a ton of great stuff they can sell to improve their home situation.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-55-06-pm.jpg
Iris finds some locals to convince to join her cause finally, while Aiyden continues looking for deals in the dumpsters. He finds a coffeemaker that looks like it’s seen better days, but he decides that’s the one item he thinks he can salvage for their home.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-58-37-pm.jpg
When he finally turns to finding people who might also like a better space to gather as a community, the smog again chokes him up. This lady is not impressed, and decides she didn’t want to talk to him after all.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-00-18-pm.jpg
Throughout the day, Iris continues to gather influence and votes for her plan of action for the neighborhood, completely ignoring whatever Aiyden might be up to.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-08-30-pm.jpg
She finds another dumpster, and ignores the cats who are now showing up en masse to look for food in the junkyard. She might as well look for more deals, because it’s not like she’s going to get any dirtier by dumpster diving some more.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-13-24-pm.jpg
A commotion behind her finally draws her attention, and she turns to find a cat stalking a mouse that is clearly too smart for the trap placed by it’s hole near the junkyard “office”. Chuckling, she turns to look for some more things to sell.
They end up spending most of the night searching for deals, and end up with quite a nice chuck of change.. and needs that are in the red on pretty much every front. Exhausted, they both head home.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-38-48-pm.jpg
The next day, Aiyden’s priority is fixing the coffeemaker he found. And possibly cleaning it up, because it smells something awful.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-43-46-pm.jpg
Iris spend her time rearranging their new furniture, and making sure the cable got hooked up properly. Already the place is starting to feel more like a home. She even ordered a more comfortable bed for both her and Aiyden.. although she might have consulted him first.. but she didn’t think about it.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-46-10-pm.jpg
Finally, she makes dinner for them, and finds out what he spent his day on while they were at the junkyard.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-46-40-pm.jpg
“A Maker Space?? What do we need that for? Didn’t you see the horrible plans that the neighbors have for the neighborhood?? You should have been campaigning to stop those ideas, not wasting your influence on that silly junkyard. We could always have fixed that later!!”
Aiyden just rolls his eyes and goes back to eating his salad. Not a very good salad, either, mind you. But – then – with the way things look, it’s no wonder the only produce they could get at the store was already turning brown at the edges.
Will these two ever start getting along??
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-38-43-pm.jpg
They load up on the pavement next to their new home, and Aiyden immediately devolves into a coughing fit. Iris seems a bit worried for her college friend.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-39-09-pm.jpg
She inquires as to his health, and he mentions the smog is choking him. He is second guessing their decision to spend so much on this house when the neighborhood appears to be in such bad shape. (They are 40k in debt from buying the bare necessities and building the house.)
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-40-08-pm.jpg
Iris immediately lights into Aiyden for doubting their mission to clean up Port Promise, and he initially looks bewildered by her attack.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-40-24-pm.jpg
Before long, however, his hot-headedness takes over, and he’s giving as good as he gets. As a simmer, I try to make them play “nice”, but they’re simply not cooperating. Every “friendly” interaction is causing further damage to an already tenuous friendship.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-44-06-pm.jpg
Finally, They’re thoroughly angry from both sides losing the argument, and I gave up and sent them to inspect their new home. Both stomp off to the front door like recalcitrant teenagers.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-44-40-pm.jpg
Iris checks out their kitchen – which is pretty much the only mostly furnished room in the house. Aiyden checks, and finds that the bathrooms, indeed, at least have plumbing, there’s a washer and dryer – and one double bed that looks like a rock to sleep on. He comes back to relay the bad news to Iris, and she doesn’t take it well.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-45-03-pm.jpg
“There’s only one bed? How on earth did this place cost so much, then? What did all our money go to? The walls and floors are so BORING! How could you have approved these designs?”
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-45-57-pm.jpg
“Whoa. You weren’t exactly helpful in picking out the designs, you were too busy with college to help out, so I picked the house that looked like it would be big enough for both of us. It’s not my fault the designer misunderstood and thought we were a couple!”
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-50-26-pm.jpg
“Whatever!” Iris has had enough of Aiyden, and turns her back on him to order some cheap (very cheap) bedroom furniture for herself, and contact the local job bureau for employment. She has the furniture installed in the room that’s the furthest from Aiydens (in the third floor), and lucks out with finding a company who will hire her on based solely on her degree, not her abysmal skills. Aiyden considers the fact that his Aspiration requires him to be a Freelance Maker, and makes the contacts to join that agency – but his “slacker” approach in his “career” only seems to aggravate Iris more.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-53-00-pm.jpg
With neither of them speaking to each other at the moment, they both decide to head to the local Community Space to check out the neighborhood. Aiyden is horrified by the mess on the lot, and immediately starts meeting people to try to gain influence so he can turn the lot into a Maker Space.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-53-18-pm.jpg
Iris sees the lot and immediately has other ideas. This neighborhood NEEDS revitalization. This junkyard of a community space can always be cleaned up later – after they have some better laws in place. She immediately start campaigning for the area to be more “Self-Sufficient”. There aren’t a whole lot of people around, yet, though – and who can blame them with all this mess around?! – so both Iris and Aiyden settle on the same thing to keep themselves busy.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-53-47-pm.jpg
Dumpster Diving. Before long, they’re both filthy and miserable, but they’ve been finding a ton of great stuff they can sell to improve their home situation.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-55-06-pm.jpg
Iris finds some locals to convince to join her cause finally, while Aiyden continues looking for deals in the dumpsters. He finds a coffeemaker that looks like it’s seen better days, but he decides that’s the one item he thinks he can salvage for their home.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_5-58-37-pm.jpg
When he finally turns to finding people who might also like a better space to gather as a community, the smog again chokes him up. This lady is not impressed, and decides she didn’t want to talk to him after all.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-00-18-pm.jpg
Throughout the day, Iris continues to gather influence and votes for her plan of action for the neighborhood, completely ignoring whatever Aiyden might be up to.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-08-30-pm.jpg
She finds another dumpster, and ignores the cats who are now showing up en masse to look for food in the junkyard. She might as well look for more deals, because it’s not like she’s going to get any dirtier by dumpster diving some more.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-13-24-pm.jpg
A commotion behind her finally draws her attention, and she turns to find a cat stalking a mouse that is clearly too smart for the trap placed by it’s hole near the junkyard “office”. Chuckling, she turns to look for some more things to sell.
They end up spending most of the night searching for deals, and end up with quite a nice chuck of change.. and needs that are in the red on pretty much every front. Exhausted, they both head home.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-38-48-pm.jpg
The next day, Aiyden’s priority is fixing the coffeemaker he found. And possibly cleaning it up, because it smells something awful.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-43-46-pm.jpg
Iris spend her time rearranging their new furniture, and making sure the cable got hooked up properly. Already the place is starting to feel more like a home. She even ordered a more comfortable bed for both her and Aiyden.. although she might have consulted him first.. but she didn’t think about it.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-46-10-pm.jpg
Finally, she makes dinner for them, and finds out what he spent his day on while they were at the junkyard.
https://illusorythrall.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/08-10-20_6-46-40-pm.jpg
“A Maker Space?? What do we need that for? Didn’t you see the horrible plans that the neighbors have for the neighborhood?? You should have been campaigning to stop those ideas, not wasting your influence on that silly junkyard. We could always have fixed that later!!”
Aiyden just rolls his eyes and goes back to eating his salad. Not a very good salad, either, mind you. But – then – with the way things look, it’s no wonder the only produce they could get at the store was already turning brown at the edges.
Will these two ever start getting along??
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